A Child's Innocence
by pandy334
Summary: It was true. David didn't have any friends his own age at all. All the children at the church had already ascended at their parent's request. Daniel thought it very selfless of them, but he could not bear to part with his child just yet. He ran his hand through his child's hair, his bright red hair. Bright red. So, unlike his own. So, unclean.


**A Child's Innocence**

The car started with a roar, disturbing the silence of the sleepy forest. A small voice rang out over the disturbance.

"Ah hooey, Dad, why couldn't we have stayed at the camper any longer?" David's face formed a small pout, his lip sticking out, making his already chubby face look even chubbier. "I wanted to play with the other kids longer. We were going to play red rover!" Daniel just smiled and patted his son's head.

"Language, son! Well, I'm sorry buddy, but you know how busy I am at this time of the year! And don't forget, we have to go visit the church soon!" David just puffed out a breath and crossed his arms, but nodded his head any way. He d _id_ know how busy his dad was. He went to multiple camps pretending to be a counselor. Apparently, a lot of the camps have horrible habits and his dad goes to camp to camp to camp to teach them how to take care of the children better. It was important work and it had to be done, but he wished he could stay at a camp long enough to make some friends. David turned his attention back to the road just as a small town came into view. It wasn't very far from the camp that they had just come from, but the town was much more run down. Most of the places seemed very out of touch. As they passed the electrical store, there seemed to still be electronics from the early 70's.

"Okay, little man." Daniel says as he rolls the car to a stop. "We need to find a good place to stay for the night and rest up. We have a huge day tomorrow." Daniel's smile grew to an unreasonable size as he cracked his neck to the side. David looked up confused at his father and asks,

"What do you mean, dad? I thought we were done with camps for the summer." Daniel just smiled more and pushed a newspaper into David's hand. The headlines read in big bold leaders, camp counselor needed.

"Well, Davey, I found a new job and I thought that we could stay at this camp a little bit longer then all the rest." His eyes grew softer as he continued. "I know you want to make some more friends and I thought this was the perfect time to do it. We must go back to the church and start your homeschooling soon and it's so hard to make friends when your home all the time. You need kids your own age to hang with. "It was true. David didn't have any friends his own age at all. All the children at the church had already ascended at their parent's request. Daniel thought it very selfless of them, but he could not bear to part with his child just yet. He ran his hand through his child's hair, his bright red hair. Bright red. So, unlike his own. So, unclean. His hand began to gradually get rougher in its movements and David began to wince.

"Dad! Ow!" He cried as his father pulled some hairs free from his head. Suddenly, Daniel seemed to come back to himself. He apologized, still seeming out of it

"I'm sorry sport. I seem to have zoned out there. I was just thinking maybe we should dye your hair. It gets annoying, everyone questioning if I am really your dad or not. Curse that unfaithful mother of yours and her red hair!" David grabs his hair, protectively.

"No, dad! The last time you tried to do that, you used way too much bleach." Daniel's eye twitched at the memory as he opened up the car door.

"Well, that's all in the past now. Let's get some sleep and then we can head on over to the camp in the morning." They walked into the hotel, ready to rest up for a new day. As David lied in bed that night, his father counted the items for their camp visit.

"Let's see here. We have rat poison, bleach, knives, perfect! All I need to do now is get the rope ready. Davey is going to be so happy with this surprise I have planned!" As he laid in bed that night, his smile had never been bigger. He was so excited.


End file.
